Take a Wild Guess

01.17.1312:20 PM ET

Where's All the Corporate Cash?

The C.D. Howe Institute offers a corrective to those worried about corporations' growing cash hoards. The Toronto-based think tank points out that inventories and accounts receivable have shrunk by even more than cash has increased. So it may not be a case of corporations losing confidence in the future. What may be happening instead is that corporations are submitting one (more liquid) for another (less liquid) form of financial asset, without much altering their underlying business behavior.